


A Different Skillset

by MusicalLuna



Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Asthmatic Steve Rogers, Bombs, Colorblindness, M/M, POV Steve Rogers, Pre-Serum Steve Rogers, Suspense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-17
Updated: 2016-12-17
Packaged: 2018-12-05 16:33:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 697
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11581905
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MusicalLuna/pseuds/MusicalLuna
Summary: “This is not exactly what I imagined when I said I could still be helpful in the field,” Steve breathes and grunts as he squeezes himself in behind the Iron Man suit.





	A Different Skillset

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked:  
> Trope: de-serumed Steve (maybe somehow helping/rescuing Tony, then feeling better about his insecurities?)

“This is not exactly what I imagined when I said I could still be helpful in the field,” Steve breathes and grunts as he squeezes himself in behind the Iron Man suit. The gap behind it is barely wide enough for him to slip into, even in his pre-serum body.

“See, being tiny isn’t so bad. If you weren’t tiny, I’d be dead,” Tony says cheerfully and Steve swallows, staring at the blinking cylinder of metal that’s latched on to the lower back of the Iron Man suit.

“Can we not talk about you being dead?” he asks politely.

“Sure, let’s talk about what you’re looking at.”

“Uh,” Steve says helplessly. “Gray metal thing. About the size of a coffee mug. Kinda shaped like one. Blinking lights on the top.”

“Do you see any seams or anything?” Tony asks and sweat is tickling the back of Steve’s neck and trickling down his forehead, he doesn’t understand how Tony can be so  _calm._

“Yeah, there’s uh, one down the middle on the top. Between the lights.”

“Okay.”

Tony talks him through prying the thing open, and it’s lucky Steve isn’t super strong right now, because if he pressed too hard and managed to shift the suit forward, they’d both get exploded. He’s pretty sure he couldn’t budge the suit now, even if he braced himself against the wall and pushed with his feet.

Inside there’s a tangle of wires and some thin tubes of liquid.

“Okay, so those little tubes are what you’re gonna wanna be careful of. If you crack one or jostle it and the liquid moves, kablooey.”

“Because then it’ll know you moved,” Steve gathers and Tony makes a pleased noise.

“Got it in one.”

“Okay,” Steve says and pushes his sweat-soaked bangs back off his forehead. “What do I—what do I do now?”

“Pull the wires out as far as you can so you can get a good look.”

Steve’s hands shake as he draws them out, picking at them until they straighten and he can follow each one from it’s origin to it’s end.

He’s starting to wheeze from the stress and Tony says, “Steve?”

“I’m fine,” Steve tells him tersely, but he digs his inhaler out of the bag at his hip and takes a couple of puffs, holding his breath as he inhales each time. “I can see seven wires.”

“Okay, so not too complicated,” Tony says. “What color?”

Steve stares at the wires, panic starting to creep up his spine. “Tony, I can’t see colors. I’m colorblind.”

“Oh,” Tony says, “Shit, that’s right.” He’s quiet for a second and Steve thinks,  _oh god, oh god he’s going to die because my eyes are broken and—_  “All right what do the bits the wires are going into look like? And what goes to where?”

Steve swallows down his panic the best he can and describes what he’s seeing in as much detail as he can manage.

“Okay,” Tony says when he’s finished. “Cut the one you said was shortest.”

_Are you sure?_  Steve wants to ask, but he trusts Tony. “I love you,” he breathes in a rush.

It scares the daylights out of him when Tony murmurs quietly back, “I love you, too.”

He should have made a quip about jinxing it, he should have joked about Steve tempting fate, he should have—

Steve snips the wire.

All the lights on the bomb go off at once.

“Mary fucking mother of god,” Steve breathes.

“Done? You did it?” Tony asks.

“Yeah, yes, I cut them, all the lights went out.”

“Oh my god, we didn’t die!” Tony exclaims and the front of the suit opens abruptly, sending him spilling out.

Steve wriggles out from behind the suit and all but throws himself at Tony, grabbing his face between his hands. “You didn’t know that would work, did you?” he gasps, clutching Tony so tightly the blood goes out of his fingers.

Tony laughs and it’s a little hysterical. “I mean it was an educated guess—”

“You son of a bitch,” Steve breathes into his mouth and then they’re kissing and Tony’s alive, he’s alive, they’re both alive, thank God.


End file.
